Impact of agricultural cooperative membership on household food security in the Mchinji district, Malawi :A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Commerce at Lincoln University

Food insecurity and malnutrition remain serious challenges in Malawi despite the country’s economy being heavily reliant on agriculture. Progress towards achieving food and nutrition security has been undermined by challenges such as small farm sizes, improper land management, and insufficient access to technical training, timely inputs, profitable markets, and financial resources leading to low productivity among smallholders. Agricultural cooperatives can improve productivity by making agricultural inputs, technical training, and modern farming technologies more accessible. Additionally, cooperatives can enhance smallholders’ income opportunities through the collective marketing of agricultural produce to preferred markets. While smallholder cooperatives often fall short of meeting performance expectations, empirical studies in some developing countries provide evidence supporting the view that cooperative membership can improve food and nutrition security among smallholders. However, no such research has been conducted in Malawi. In this study, probability-based sampling techniques were used to select a representative sample of 475 cooperative member and non-member households to estimate the impact of agricultural cooperative membership and the use of cooperative services on household food security. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Two-stage Least Squares (2SLS) regression models with instrumental variables (IV) were used to account for sample selection bias. Findings showed that cooperative membership had a positive and meaningful impact on household food and nutrition security; specifically, it increased household dietary diversity by an average of 2.945 units, improved household food consumption by an average of 23.638 units, reduced the number of hungry months experienced by households by an average of 2.759 units, and reduced the frequency and severity of negative coping strategies required by households to manage food shortages by an average of 9.450 units. The findings suggest that government and non-government organisations (NGOs) should encourage awareness of cooperative benefits and facilitate the establishment of cooperatives in districts where food security is weak and the demand for cooperatives is strong. Cooperative leaders should focus on providing technical training and access to farm inputs and product markets.